A guide wire is used to introduce and indwell a medical device such as a catheter, an introducer kit or the like in a blood vessel when executing diagnosis and medical treatment of the blood vessel percutaneously. It was common in the past that the region at which a medical device such as a catheter or the like was introduced into a blood vessel was the femoral (FEMORAL). In recent years though, the introduction region is shifting to a brachial (BRACHIAL) and, in particular, to a radial (RADIAL) in order to lighten the burden on the patient. There has thus been a desire for a guide wire, including for example a guide wire with a J-shape distal tip, which possesses quite good steerability characteristics while also being capable of being used safely in a blood vessel of an arm portion that often includes branches and meanders.
In the past, when a guide wire with a J-shape distal tip was inserted into an introducing needle, a catheter or the like, a supplemental tool (inserter) has been used for making the insertion easier. However, in a case, in particular, in which the curvature radius of the curved portion of the J-shape is relatively small, the operation for inserting a guide wire once again into the inserter when exchanging the catheter or the like was complicated.
To address this, there is disclosed a tool in which the need for a supplemental tool when inserting a wire into an introducing needle, a catheter, a sheath or the like is unnecessary. This is accomplished by designing the angle formed by the extended line in the direction of the distal tip linear portion and the wire base line to be 40 to 70° with respect to the distal shape of the guide wire. An example of this is described in Patent Document 1 identified below.
Patent Document 2 identified below discloses a guide wire having a distal shape preformed as a multi-bending shape for use in entering a side opening of a tube for medical treatment. Also, Patent document 3 identified below discloses a guide wire which includes two curve portions facing different directions in order to control the direction of the distal tip of the guide wire.
In case of a guide wire whose distal tip is formed to possess a J-shape as seen in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to stretch the J-shaped distal portion once and thereafter insert it into an introducing needle, catheter or a sheath. It thus often happens that the steerability of the guide wire is not very good.
Also, with respect to the guide wire disclosed in Patent Document 2, the inner diameter of the tube for medical treatment to be used is known beforehand, so that in when using a guide wire having a shape corresponding to the inner diameter thereof, it is difficult for the guide wire to come out from the side opening of the tube for medical treatment. However, the blood vessel possesses a different diameter depending on the individual organism, region or the like, so that in case of using the guide wire of Patent Document 2 for a blood vessel, it is necessary to separately use a guide wire which has a different shape for every patient or for every region so as not to erroneously-enter into a side-branch of a blood vessel. The guide wire disclosed in Patent Document 3 is not as likely to erroneously-enter into a side-branch in the case of a blood vessel having a thin side-branch. But in the case of a blood vessel having a thick side-branch, it happens that the guide wire may erroneously-enter into the side-branch and it becomes difficult to reach the aimed region and therefore, the steerability is bad.
With respect to the guide wire described in Patent Document 4, the shape of the guide wire is formed to be such a shape that it is possible to select branches of both the vascular channels having large and small diameters. However, it is relatively easy to erroneously-enter into a branch for that reason and it happens that it will spend time for the operation after all in case of introducing it from the radial as mentioned above.
Further, Patent Document 5 identified below discloses a guide wire having an S-shape distal shape to introduce it into a blood vessel branch. But a guide wire such as that having an S-shape distal tip faces the hand direction at the most distal tip thereof, so that it is difficult to insert it into an introducing needle or a catheter, and so it is necessary to also use an inserter.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-181184.
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H11-76415.
[Patent Document 3] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-530132.
[Patent Document 4] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-508168.
[Patent Document 5] Japanese Utility Model Patent Publication No. S61-7736.